Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

To be right up front, I didn’t know who Adam Carolla was until this morning. I do now. His interview rant against the Occupy Wall Street crowd has gone viral. Having listened to it I can understand why. It’s a no-holds-barred-expletive-riddled diatribe on where we’ve gone wrong as a society. But for me, it’s the last line Carolla utters that’s worth a follow-up.

Allison Rosen, the interviewer, closes with the observation, “So it’s like global sibling rivalry” and Carolla responds, “That’s what it is. It’s as old as the Bible.”

Enter the consciousness, and the reference point, we need to have about where we are. I am always a bit surprised when I hear someone say that there is no “playbook” or “manual” for living life. Of course, there is. It’s just that most people don’t like some of the advice (or “rules” if you like) and so they dismiss the work in its entirety.

The Old Testament, or Torah as I know it, sets forth the problem and sets it forth early. Cain and Abel. Isaac and Ishmael. Esau and Jacob. Shoots from the same stalk yet one envious of the others portion. Envious to the point of a willingness to destroy…and greedy to boot.

Carolla is right, but for his poor choice of vocabulary. Look around and what you see, from the “99%’ers” to the Islamist terrorists, to the multinational and agri-corporations is envy and greed. More is never enough, it seems. And if someone has “more”…even if they have attained it rightfully through just means and hard work, well…then let’s just destroy them and what they have. It’s positively Biblical in origin. Fortunately, so is the solution.

Do not covert anything that is thy neighbors.

We are all born with our “portion.” It makes no sense, and is an egregious waste of time, to resent someone else for theirs. Make the best of yours. Be grateful for what you have, accepting of what is, joyful for the gift of life, and enthusiastic for possibility. Gratitude, acceptance, joy and enthusiasm negate envy and greed.

Then, with all that spare time formerly used to begrudge and destroy, go about bettering yourself and the world around you. It’s a much better strategy. By the way, that strategy is in the manual.

“Behold I have placed before you today that which is life and that which is good; that which is death and that which is evil… And you shall choose Life, in order that you and your children shall live” [Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:15-19].

 

You’d think we were wiser, or at least smarter, than to believe that everything is fine just because Thanksgiving sales were up and the DOW Jones reacted positively to that fact. You’d think.

It astonishes me how many people remain asleep…unconscious…unaware. And how many others are living in a world of denial. I understand the tendency to bury one’s head in the sand, so to speak, in the face of so much bad news and uncertainty. Admittedly, these are trying times.

But denial never gets you anything other than delayed truth. It doesn’t obliterate it.

Here’s my latest take on fear. It’s been the tool of choice for controlling the majority of people on earth for, at least, the last 5000 years. I think it’s time we stopped buying into the illusion that energy is scarce and costly, that remedies for illness are limited to choices predetermined by a few and sanctioned by government, that politicians need be corrupt and we need to accept this as a given, and that corporations and banks need to be insatiable entities satisfying their endless hunger for money and control at the expense of those who reply upon their services and trust in their good intentions.

Energy is free. It’s in the air…the “space” all around us and extracting it has gotten everyone discredited who ever proved that to be true. Buddhism, and even physics, assert that out of “no-thing-ness,” or the void, came everything. Well, if there is nothing in the void, then it’s devoid of light, also. So light is not the Source of all that is… darkness is. And darkness is not a bad thing. Its no-thing and holds the potential from which every-thing manifests.

For these past 5000 plus years we have been living under the fear-based illusion that to break the rules gets you cast into hell (the abyss), or prison, or just plain outcast from mainstream society. As if the abyss is bad. I would ask you consider that the very thing we have been told to fear… the dark, the unknown, the “other”… is, in fact, the Source of true power. And those who have known this truth, in both religions and governments worldwide, have used that illusion to manipulate us with fear-based thinking for most of human history.

Wake up! Now! Fear is a tool to control you. That’s why there is so much “bad” news. That’s why economies are collapsing. The insatiable individuals and companies that have run our reality by fear are panicked. They are desperate and the only way they can hang on to their power is to make certain you are more frightened than you’ve ever been in your entire life.

It’s a game. Its not real. Refuse to play. Step outside the box. Follow your own inner guidance. Link up with like-minded people and stay the course. We are on the threshold of a brave new world and it’s not one ruled by one world government. It’s a world imagined by billions of individual, creative, compassionate souls who have awakened to say:

Enough.

 

The euro is crashing. Pakistan is irate at the West and it has nuclear weapons. Inflation is on the rise. Iran has threatened to attack Israel and NATO bases in Turkey if its nuclear facilities are attacked.

These are just today’s headlines.But this post isn’t about the headlines. It’s about the effects of those headlines and many others.

Until recently, there was much uncertainty around. Now, the uncertainty is turning to fear. Fear is not an emotion a world in transition can afford to ignore…or indulge. We must be vigilant and aware that in the absence of leadership, much destruction and evil can gain a foothold as we reorganize and reprioritize our world.

Whether in the public or private sector, events have confirmed that our “leaders” are either incompetent or corrupt.  We are, in fact, seemingly without guidance or direction.

This is an illusion.

Guidance and direction are located within each of us. No one will come to the rescue this time. No single individual has all the answers…but every single individual holds a piece of the finished puzzle within themselves. The first order of business is to recognize this fact. The second, to go within and access it. The third, to bring it forth with courage and conviction.

What is in your heart and what are you willing to do about it?

What unexpressed truth are you harboring?

What do you know needs to be done?

You are the leader the world is waiting for and only you can exhibit that fact in your daily life. Begin there. Live the ethics and morality you know are lacking in the world. Demand truth and integrity from yourself.  Don’t await any external solution because the answer is eternal and only available within.

Gandhi said it best: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

And so it will be.

 

You know something is wrong. If you don’t, you’re comatose.

Corruption, greed, child sexual abuse, violence and destruction masquerading as civil unrest, denigration of morality, disregard for ethics, deceit, fraud… I could go on but the point is made. We are very off track and the track we need to be on is about to run out of rails. Without a serious and immanent course correction and repair, we are headed for a disaster.

Correction and repaid… tikkun olam.

If these words are unfamiliar it’s because you are not a Jew. Tikkum olam is Judaism’s teaching that we are here to correct and repair the world. Each one of us, in fact, has that responsibility and is here for that purpose. In today’s world, there is much to correct and repair. Quite frankly, it seems we are running out of not just track, but the time needed to set things right.

Whether it’s a collapsing global economy, Islamist terrorists, drug resistant bacteria or Nature unleashed we are, quite literally, running out of time to reprioritize what matters to us and what we are willing to do in support of standing for what matters.

I am of the school of thought that one person can change the world. Gandhi did it. So did Hitler. How and in what direction that change takes place is very much determined by what the individual values and how far they are willing to go to manifest those values.

What do you value? What do you think is worth living, and even dying, for?

These are not easy questions but they are suddenly critical ones. As systems breakdown all around us due to antiquated and dysfunctional structuring, you have to be clear about what takes their place. If not, in the absence of your knowing…I assure you there are others who will have a certainty you’ll not want to live under.

President James Garfield said, “The Truth will set you free but it will make you miserable first.”  Let us be quick to awaken and accept the knowing that being temporarily miserable far outweighs being permanently enslaved.

Correct and repair. Tikkun olam.

In a spiritual economy, no one is ever unemployed.

Three decades ago a friend of mine who is a clinical social worker said to me, “Every society that has abandoned its children has failed to survive. We have a million runaways a year in this country. It’s not a good sign.”  Well, wasn’t she prescient? And wasn’t that a very slippery slope.

We have fallen so far down that slope that people in positions of authority and power have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to child predators and the sexual molestation of minors. To wit: the faculty and Administrators of Penn State University and Jerry Sandusky... not to mention Judge Leslie Dutchcot who let the alleged predator walk without posting bail and without ordering monitoring of his whereabouts pending trial.

What are we thinking? Who have we become?

This story out of State College, Pennsylvania may well travel the path of the sexual abuse revelations within the Catholic Church.  Sexual molestation of minors, and knowledge thereof by adult faculty and coaching staffs, may turn out to be a collegiate and professional sports team epidemic. Nor do I think its limited to those venues. Child molestation by a relative, a more disgusting manifestation of this particular deviant behavior, is likely a national problem as well.

Why? Because of what my friend said three decades ago.

In our quest for more and more instant gratification and personal aggrandizement, we lost sight of human decency, the laws of Nature, the laws of God, and as such abandoned the children. When you spend your time split between material gain and self-absorption, perspectives get warped and priorities get skewed. The children (and the elderly) become irrelevant as they do not enhance either of those self-indulgent past times.

So, the perversions of Jerry Sandusky, and the abdication of personal responsibility by the adults at Penn State who knew of his crimes, are the foreseeable end result. Only we, as a Nation, have been too self-absorbed to care.

The good news is that darkness cannot exist in the light of day. The revelations at Penn State now confront us as the undeniable error of our ways. It is too late for those innocent boys who suffered from Sandusky’s misuse of power as it is too late for the millions who have similarly suffered from similar abuse.

However, it is not too late for each of us to confront that capacity within ourselves, and openly confront that capacity when we witness in others, that would so violently violate the sacred space of another human being and misuse power to such a spectacular degree.

Jewish sages have said “To save one life is to save the world.”  How much more so if it is the saving of a Soul? Perhaps the saving of one soul, one child who will not have to suffer the terror, pain, and indignation of sexual abuse, will be the salvation of us all.

Saving a life is finite.  Saving a Soul is eternal.

 

 

 

I remember the first time I was in Rome.  As I stood in front of the Senate, where Brutus stabbed Caesar, I was struck by the contrast between the facts that 1) Romans drive to and from work every day past 2000 years of history and 2) Philadelphians drive to and from work every day past 250 years of history. Which may explain the cultural differences and, for lack of a better word, maturity levels. My experience was that Europeans are more adult than Americans. They prioritize their lives differently…which led me to think about growing up.

In many ways we, in the United States, suffer from adolescence.  We want what we want, when we want it. We have short-range vision. We act with disregard for the consequences. We  often abdicate personal responsibility for what we say and do. We think we can disregard the rules of civility and the laws Nature. We crave not only the latest android…we want the biggest house, the most expensive car, and the clothing that shows its label on the outside. We live beyond our means and expect someone else, mainly the government, to rescue us from ourselves. Ironically, even government needs rescuing from its own irresponsible behavior.

We have behaved very much like adolescents.

So, as each of us comes to realize that our lives are not working and all of the indulgences have not gotten us the peace and satisfaction we seek, perhaps its just plain time to grow up. The place to start is to take a look at your own life, how you’re living it, what you value, where you turn a blind eye to responsibility, and decide to do something about it.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” He was talking to each of us…individually. The only way we will succeed at moving beyond this moment is to accept what it means to be an adult, with ethical boundaries and personal responsibility, and then live that acceptance. Otherwise, sooner or later, the teen who refuses to stop pushing the boundaries and ignoring the rules ends up watching Life pass them by.

In our case, it will be the future of a great nation that will have been expendable.

 

Nature has a way of balancing things out and making quick friends of entrenched adversaries.  When tsunamis, earthquakes or any type of natural disaster strike a nation, it is instructive to see how the peoples of the world come together to offer aid. New Orleans, Haiti, India, Chile… these were but a few of the geographic regions that experienced natural disasters where our differences were transcended by our humanity. Or, as I prefer to think of it, our Oneness.

Let’s pray that Turkey can move beyond its political and religious agendas to rethink its decline today of the medical and humanitarian assistance Israel has offered following the devastating earthquake just suffered there.  It is hard for me to believe that anyone, or any nation’s leaders, would deny themselves some of the nearest and best medical, military and technological aid on political or religious grounds. In fact I would have to question the politics or the religion of any group of people who would allow their own to suffer and die rather than accept the outstretched hand of a neighbor whose intentions are heartfelt.

Perhaps Turkey and the world in general, should consider that what we have failed to do of our own Free Will may now be imposed upon us in a most distasteful way by the Earth itself.  When we accept that we are powerless to oppose the full force of Nature unleashed… and that our only hope during such moments and their aftermath is our support of one another…perhaps we will rethink the wisdom of so much division and hatred and contemplate a new strategy whereby we pull together rather than apart.

If not, like children, we may have to learn the hard way. Turkey certainly is.

Phew. It’s going to be a busy week!

Palestinians plan to seek United Nations approval for an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and pre-1967 borders by brining the proposal to a vote in both the General Assembly and the Security Council despite the United States having made clear its intention to veto such a proposal in the Security Council.  Israel is shoring up its internal defenses in anticipation of possible pro-Palestinian marches or, worse, terrorist activity.

This week, Friday to be exact, NASA’S Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched in 1991 and weighing 61/2 tons is due to breakup as it burns through the atmosphere and land somewhere on earth. While some of the pieces are expected to survive the burn and impact earth, scientists have estimated that with 70% of the earth being covered in water, the likelihood of any of those surviving pieces from the bus-sized orbiter impacting a person is 3600 to 1. I know that totally eliminates any concerns I have.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, along with the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank have decided to “provide dollar liquidity” (read as print more money) to help stabilize the highly unstable banking system in several EU member countries.  This “international stimulus” seems like a tried and true approach given the apparent success of the two stimulus efforts here by this Administration and its economic geniuses guiding monetary policy.

Finally, malcontents and other assorted groups with a variety of issues but an apparent common goal… to bring down Wall Street and/or the U.S. government… have begun pitching tents in New York’s financial district this weekend with the intention to stay put until their goal is achieved. Soon, they will be joined, in spirit, by those organizing October 6^th as a national day of protest wherein they will begin sit ins at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Phew. I’m tired and it’s only Sunday morning. The week hasn’t even begun.

Assuming the Palestinians and other Arab nations do not react violently to a negative outcome to their quest for statehood via the UN (my 18-year-old daughter is in Israel for 9 months)…and NASA’s UARS doesn’t fall on me (or anyone I know) as the “1 in 3600,”, …and someone in this Administration wakes up before we can’t even afford to buy the paper to print more money on…and those sitting in on Wall Street and the Capitol go home realizing they have neither the spiritual motivation of Gandhi nor the political will of Martin Luther King…I’m still left with a pounding headache at the possible wrong turn any of the above might take.

So what’s the solution?

Its faith and trust. I have faith and trust in a Divine Pattern of love and unity. Does that mean I can sit back and silently wait? No, I’m part of that pattern and, as such, have to hold my space. My space, as I see it, is to be an individual standing for what is good and true:

To say out loud that Palestinians should have a state of their own but not at the expense of the State of Israel and not by appropriating, through threat of violence, what is not theirs.

To say out loud that The Federal Reserve, and its very secretive members, seem to be clueless about our current financial situation. Given their repeated errors in judgment they should be stripped of their power while we open the discussion to alternative ways from alternative minds.

To say out loud that it is right, just and necessary to speak out against greed and corruption and to become active in changing course…but not when destruction is the only goal and where no plan exists for rebuilding anew from what remains following the breakdown.

To say out loud that NASA… well, what can I say? They meant well. Besides, there are physical laws and one of them is “what goes up must come down.” I just hope with everything else going on this week that 70% ocean and 3600 to 1 turn out to be sufficient odds.

 

 

 

 

I’m writing this post at the same time I’m watching the Tea Party Presidential debate on CNN.  I had to write now because I am concerned that if I don’t express my feelings in the very moment that I’m experiencing them, time may diminish the power of my ability to communicate them to you.

These seven  men (Romney, Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, Cane, Huntsman, Paul) and one woman (Bachman) are intelligent, articulate, and impassioned. That’s nice, but not as important as the fact that I think they are, overall, telling us the truth.  Even though its not pretty. And while we have tuned in to hear the questions they are asked, and the answers they provide, I think the greater question is “Do we really want to hear the truth?”  Or, are we guilty of the accusation Jack Nicholson made to Tom Cruise in the movie “A Few Good Men” when he said, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”

Can you?  Can we?

Because the truth means that each of us has to take personal responsibility for how we got to where we are and personal responsibility for what we do in our own lives in getting us out of here. It means re-prioritizing our values, reallocating our time, renewing our commitment to personal integrity, and remembering that we are… above all… in this together.

Leadership starts with us but it doesn’t end there. If we are ready to meet those demands and standards in our own lives then we will get the leadership we deserve. However, if we want the bumper sticker promise and the quick fix we will not only get more of the same, we will meet the real enemy and have found it to be us.

I can handle the truth. Can you?

Paul Krugman is an American economist, Princeton University professor and Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics recipient. Charles Krauthammer is a Pulitizer prize-winning syndicated columnist, political commentator, and physician. Two very bright men. One of them wrote a factually researched, well-substantiated, thought provoking column on the tenth year anniversary of the terrorist attacks perpetrated on September 11, 2001. The other threw a schoolyard bully’s punch and then left the playground before anyone else could respond.

The former was Charles Krauthammer.  The latter, Paul Krugman, tempts me to give his “column” no time at all. However, in Mr. Krugman’s judgmental name calling and accusations, he teaches us much about what’s wrong with the world and why we have found ourselves so far from who we want to be.

Mr. Krauthammer’s column in the National Review On-line recaps the U.S. response and successes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He also factually disproves allegations that the War on Terror is the basis for our current financial difficulties and places the blame where it belongs.  Finally, he gives us pride in our national determination and endurance in the face of adversity.

As for Mr. Krugman… he used his bully pulpit to bully. He accused former President George W. Bush and former New York Mayor Rudy Guilaini of “cash[ing] in on the horror” and unnamed others of “hijacking [of] the atrocity.” He actually goes so far as to call the memory of 9/11 “an occasion of shame.” Mr. Krugman’s opinion piece is a lesson in turning the victim into the perpetrator… in deflecting responsibility from where it rightfully belongs. He offers no facts, piously judges others, and tries to make us feel badly about ourselves as a nation. Let’s learn from his mistakes.

1. Conclusions should be based upon facts, not conjecture.

2. Judgment belongs to Our Creator and when exercised by humankind separates and alienates us from ourselves and one another.

3. Giving others confidence and hope, not criticism and despair, is the answer to both personal and collective growth.

Mr. Krauthammer’s column allows for posting comments. Mr. Krugman’s does not. Deliberately so. He noted that he was not permitting comments “for obvious reasons.” What is obvious to me may be different from what he intended. I post here the email I sent him following a read of his column:

“If you are going to make the kind of judgments and bold statements made in the NY Times Opinion piece ‘The Years of Shame,’ have the courage to allow those who see the world differently from you the courtesy of access to reply.  Free speech, I presume, is one of the founding principles upon which we can agree. What follows that principle in a free society is the battlefield of ideas.

The only thing that is ‘obvious’ about why you would have precluded responses to the piece is your need to strike while insulating yourself from the counter-punch. This was not a courageous act. Being able to take the heat, not just give it, is the sign of a confident individual committed to, above all, the truth.”